The present invention relates to a tape type electronic chip supplying apparatus and a supplying method for supplying fine electronic chips having no lead wire such a chip type resistors, chip type laminated condenser or the like to a chip mounter or an electronic circuit board.
Electronic chips of this type are shown in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 60-24100. According to such a conventional technique, electronic chips are, respectively, inserted into and retained in recesses arranged in a longitudinal direction of a tape (retainer tape) made of paper, for example. In this case, the chips are kept in the recesses in a sealed state by detachably attaching a coating tape onto a top surface of the retainer tape. The retainer tape in which the electronic chips are sealed in the recesses is rolled around a reel in the supply apparatus. The retainer tape is intermittently withdrawn and supplied from the roll at a pitch corresponding to a distance between the adjacent recesses by intermittent rotation of a sprocket which is engaged with perforations formed along a side edge of the retainer tape. When the chip is delivered to an opening position where the chip is to be picked up in the suppy apparatus, the coating tape is peeled away from the paper tape, and then the exposed chip is sucked by a vacuum absorption nozzle of the chip mounter. Thus, the chip is picked up from the recess of the retainer tape. In the thus constructed electronic chip supplying apparatus, if a tape delivery speed, i.e., chip feeding pace would be increased to a high level or the retainer tape fluctuates up and down; there would be generated a phenomenon in which the electronic chip would rattle or jump at the opening position. As a result, the electronic chip would jump out of the recess of the retainer tape or the chip to be picked up would be offset relative to the vacuum absorption nozzle of the chip mounter thereby resulting in a failure in the pickup operation.